Mods 4

29/07/06 I've finally managed to get hold of a pair of original Minifin alloy drums. Not exactly a bargain (£56 on eBay), but they are incredibly light when compared to the Metro's cast iron items. As the mounting flanges are thinner on the Minifins, I had to buy a pair of 6mm spacers from Merlin Motorsport.   While I was at Merlin, I also bought this neat little Racetech centre mirror. During the fine weather over the past couple of weeks, I've been enjoying driving the Onyx on the road - exploring hidden country pubs, visiting some friends and taking them and their wives/children/neighbours out for a ride. Most passengers were amazed by how well the car goes with just a standard 1400cc engine under the bonnet. The next serious outing for the car is on August 12th at Castle Combe for the Bristol Pegasus MC Track and Club Day. This will be my first time on a proper racing circuit. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm also slightly apprehensive - I must keep away from the Armco and tyre walls. A day at Castle Combe will probably finish off the tyres currently on the car, so it'll be time to look for some replacements. Even if there is some tread left, it would be sensible to get some new tyres - I've no idea how old my Pirellis are and the rear pair are starting to perish slightly. Several people, including David at Onyx, have recommended the Yokohama A539 as a good all-rounder, so I'll probably go for a set of those. I wouldn't mind some different wheels as well. I really like the later Metro's 5-spoke design, as fitted to Richard Grove's Firefox (the blue car on the Gallery page). They look a lot more modern than the cross-spoke design on my car and I'm sure they'd be a lot easier to clean. I'll ask Andy (APS) and/or Dean (Allcars) if they can find me a set.  12/08/06 What a great day at Castle Combe! A well-organised and safe introduction to track driving. After signing on and the noise test (92.7dB), we attended the driver's briefing. Very similar to the MSE briefings, the flags, lines, cones and overtaking etiquette were all made very clear. Special mention was made of the dangers at Quarry corner. With all the formalities done, it was time to queue for the first session. Only six cars were allowed on the track at once, so there was plenty of space. During the day, Rod and I managed five sessions - I had three and Rod two. As with the airfield days, I took it very steady to start with, following the brake/turn/apex cones and keeping one eye on the mirrors for faster cars. I gradually built up speed during the day and actually got to like Quarry corner. I did struggle a bit with Camp corner - every time I exited Camp, I felt I could have gone in quicker. However, on the next lap the right foot always lifted again. I'll have to go on a track day there next Spring and get some more practice. While Rod was on track for a session, I was taken out as a passenger in a Westfield (thanks Chris!). Chris has done many laps of the circuit, so it was very interesting and useful to compare lines, speeds and braking points. During my next driving session, I used the same lines as Chris in several places, which were a lot quicker than mine. My car didn't miss a beat all day and went very well - pulling an indicated 110MPH on the approach to Avon Rise. Compared with the three airfield days I've done, I found Castle Combe to be much more challenging and interesting. The facilities are obviously much better too. The only downside is cost - the normal price for a CC track day is £165, with additional drivers an extra £40. Still, I'm looking forward to going there again next year. 03/09/06 Back from France and on with the next improvement. As the Firefox has no transmission tunnel, I need something to brace my left leg against when cornering hard. A rubber stub (I think it's a foot from an old computer) was bolted to the floor. This fits perfectly inside 22mm copper heating pipe.   A length of the pipe was slipped over the stub... ...then clamped to the inside of the dash cross-member. For padding, I fitted a piece of Climaflex 22mmx13mm foam insulation over the pipe. The piece of rubber that was covering the dash cross-member was beginning to crack and split, so I've replaced it with some firm, closed-cell foam. It's normally used on roll bars and cages.   The thicker padding meant I had to cut 8mm off the bottom of the dash panel. With that done, I put some small Titanfast trim all along the bottom edges, which is something I've been meaning to do for months. Finally, I covered the two new pieces of foam with some black vinyl. I'm very slow, clumsy, messy and wasteful with this type of work, but I'm well pleased with the final result. I've ordered six Yokohama A539 tyres for the car, in 175/60/13 size. The original 185/55/13 size fitted to the Metro GTi are almost impossible to get nowadays, so these are the closest I could find. Phoning and surfing for half an hour or so got the price down to £45.00 each, including fitting, valves, balancing and disposal of the old Pirellis. The tyres were ordered online from Value Tyres who will despatch them to County Tyres in Bristol (not far from where I work). They'll be fitted next weekend. I couldn't find any nice five-spoke alloys for sale locally, so the new Yokohamas will be fitted to my existing wheels. The next outing for the car will probably be at Brands Hatch in October. I'm attending the totalkitcar live event on the 14th and also the track afternoon on the 13th. I'd like to get another airfield day in before then, but with other DIY jobs to do and another holiday coming up, I don't think I'll have the chance. September already. Where does the time go?  09/09/06 Due to a "lack of communication", my Yokohamas haven't been delivered to County Tyres. They're now due in on Tuesday 12th. I received the insurance renewal notice from Footman James this morning. Pleasingly, the premium for the same cover as last year has dropped from £161.70 to £147.00. That's such a good rate that I won't bother ringing around in the hope of saving a couple of quid. I'll phone FJ on Monday to renew.  12/09/06 I rang Footman James yesterday and renewed my insurance. As I've come to expect from them, I received the Certificate of Motor Insurance this morning. The new tyres did arrive at County today, so I took my wheels there on the way to work and collected them at lunchtime.  24/09/06 Back from the Yorkshire Dales and on with the mods. Surprisingly, the new 175/60/13 Yokohamas are about 10mm wider and 8mm taller than the old 185/55/13s. Those Pirellis were criminally undersized. As I'd fitted the front arches close to the old tyres, they fouled on the new ones. I had to file out the mounting holes of all four brackets to get the extra height needed. I then moved the front brackets inboard by about 5mm, using some washers as extra spacers. This has resulted in the front arches being slightly off-centre. I'm not too concerned about it at the moment, but I'll probably make some new brackets and spacers during the winter. One other minor problem, noticed when refitting the rear wheels is that the O/S/R brake is binding. That'll have to be sorted out next weekend.  30/09/06 The binding rear brake was caused by a sticking handbrake cable. I took the drum off to start with, but nothing was wrong inside there. The boot lid and fuel tank were then removed, to enable the handbrake cable to be taken out. I wrapped and taped some stiff plastic tightly around the three ends of the cable to form funnels, hung the cable ends from the roof and filled the funnels with clean engine oil. They were then left overnight to let the oil run through. I've used this method before to lubricate cables and it works well.  01/10/06 I should have put something under the hanging cables last night, as there were three puddles of oil on the garage floor this morning. While the fuel tank was out, I checked The Snake Pit for any sign of leaks or chafing. All was well, so the cable, tank and boot lid were refitted. The lubricated cable did the trick and the brakes no longer bind. I'm a bit surprised that I've had to do this already, as the cable was brand new when I built the car. Most of the cable is well protected from the elements and there was no sign of any damage, corrosion or build up of grime on the two exposed sections. With that problem solved, I checked various fasteners, clips and screws for tightness, made sure all fluids were topped up, then greased the front and rear suspension pivots. Next weekend, I plan to give the car a good clean inside and out, in preparation for its appearance at Brands Hatch.  08/10/06 As it was a nice dry morning, I took the car out for a leisurely drive, to get some miles on the new tyres. When I got back, I washed the bodywork and wheels, vacuumed the interior and then used some Silvo to polish the side panels, mud guards and the rear boot panel. Finally, I painted the rather rusty gear lever in Radiant Red to match the bodywork. The car is now gleaming for the "totalkitcar LIVE" event. I'm really looking forward to it - let's hope the weather is kind. 15/10/06 A fantastic day and a half at Brands Hatch: As I'm still a track novice and had never been to Brands before, I also booked a place on the kit car track afternoon on Friday. After some tuition from one of the instructors, I at least knew the right lines - I just needed more courage and speed. My friend Ken also drove and rode in my Firefox and helped me enormously with braking points and corner speeds. I thought the Indy circuit was wonderful. So far, I've only been on perfectly flat airfields and Castle Combe race track, which has one slight slope, so the ups and downs of Brands Hatch were a bit of a shock! By the time "Team Onyx" (Carla, David and Ross) arrived on Friday afternoon, I was going a lot quicker than at the start of the sessions, and looking forward to the next day's action. After the track closed, my car was safely tucked away in garage 22, along with Richard Grove's Firefox and the Mongoose demonstrator. Ken and I went off to find our pub B&B, where we had a couple of beers, an excellent Thai evening meal and an early night. After breakfast, we arrived at the circuit on Saturday to find it shrouded in fog. Thankfully, by the time we'd signed on and had another drivers' briefing, it had fully cleared. After a few laps behind the pace car, it was open pit lane for the rest of the day. Visitors were a bit sparse to start with, so Ken and I had a couple more blasts round the circuit. In between sessions, I asked David for his recommended tyre and suspension settings. He suggested setting the tyre pressures when hot to 22psi front and 15psi rear (I had been using 26f/20r cold). He also advised that the front and rear dampers all be set to 25 clicks in from the softest setting (previously 20f/12r). I carried out all the adjustments and they made a noticeable difference during the next session on track. Roll was considerably reduced and traction was better, especially at the rear. The biggest difference was stability under heavy braking. The car had seemed rather nervous and twitchy before, especially on the approach to Druids Bend. The new settings transformed the car and gave me more confidence, especially under braking. I must remember these settings for the next track/airfield event. After lunch, there was a steady flow of customers to the Onyx garage. David was kept busy demonstrating the Mongoose and I was looking after those interested in the Firefox model. Passengers included Ross, Richard Grove (whose Firefox had a gearbox failure after one lap in the morning) and fellow Firefox builders Bill stokes and Daniel Taylor. In total, I took about 14 people around the circuit. During a lull, David took me for a ride in the Mongoose. That's an impressive little car - very agile and seemingly glued to the track. Later, I asked him to take me out for a few laps in my car. After a steady first lap, he started to really throw the car into corners, often sliding the back round to line the car up with the corner exit. It was good to experience exactly what my Firefox is capable of in the right hands. I thoroughly enjoyed the session, though I don't think my tyres were quite so impressed. After we came back into the pits, I asked David if I could do anything to improve the car's performance. He immediately relied "more power". I had to agree, as I also could have done with a few more ponies on the uphill approach to Druids and also on the main straight, especially with a passenger. After about 4.00pm, the crowds started thinning out, so I went out for a couple of sessions on my own. I finally got the car sliding around a bit - mainly on the slower, third-gear corners.  19/10/06 I renewed the road tax on the car today. Pleasingly, the car doesn't need a MOT test until it's 3 years old. I had considered putting the car on a SORN until spring, as I can trailer the car to late and/or early-season events. However, as I didn't have to fork out for the MOT test, I put the money thus saved towards another full years tax. I used the DVLA's new on-line ordering service and the tax disc arrived on the 23rd. 20/11/06 Another very enjoyable day at Keevil airfield with Motorsport Events. The weather forecast for the day wasn't brilliant, but I was keen to get some wet-track experience in the Firefox. I've never driven the car in the wet before, due to being incredibly lucky with the weather so far. The airfield was very wet when I arrived, but it was a dry, bright morning with a fresh breeze, which would help dry the track. After the noise test (93.4dB) and drivers briefing, we all did 3 sighting laps behind the MSE van. After that, for the first 45 minutes, the cars went out in sessions. I was in the first session out of three and took it very carefully. After the sessions were over, it was an "Open Pit Lane" for the rest of the day. The driver next to me in the paddock had told me that it was a very good surface at Keevil and that I'd be surprised at the grip available in the wet. My first impressions were that he was right and by about 11.30am I was probably going as fast on the damp track as I was on the dry track back in June. My previous knowledge of the track certainly helped the lap times come down and the new Yokohamas are definitely a big improvement over the old Pirellis. The only problem I had was exiting the two sharp, second-gear corners. If I gave the car just a whiff too much throttle, the inside front tyre would spin madly. I wonder how much a LSD is? By the time the shorter than usual lunch break was over, the track was bone dry on the racing line, so I put my brave pants on and tried a bit harder. I actually started to catch and overtake some other cars, ranging from a Mini Cooper S to a Caterham. I'm unlikely to ever set any lap records, but I am gradually getting faster and it is bloody good fun tearing around a track all day. I did manage to lose the back end and spin the car, on a third-gear left-hander just before the pit entrance. Thankfully it was quite a tame 180 degree effort, missing all the cones and there were no other cars nearby. The track's a bit bumpy there and my suspension was still set very hard from Brands Hatch, so I suspect the back of the car took off over the bump, sending me into a spin. Well, it sounds like a good excuse anyway! Back in the pits, I softened the rear suspension and had no further mishaps after that. As with the other airfield events I've done, I was the last car out on the track and eventually got red flagged at ten past four, as the light was beginning to fade. I managed a total of 116 miles on track (it was just me driving the car this time). The car ran all day on one tank of fuel and didn't miss a beat as always. The engine is rather more rattly now though, especially after starting. It sound as though one or two of the hydraulic followers are taking a time to properly fill with oil. One of the Westfield drivers near me in the paddock also mentioned that there was the odd puff of smoke from the exhaust. I don't think the poor old engine will take another season of this abuse, so I'd better get a replacement over the Winter. One disadvantage of having better tyres is that they don't last as long. After a day and a half at Brands and a day at Keevil, I've lost about 3mm of tread from the front tyres and nearly 2mm from the rear.  So, all in all another fun day. I got some wet-track experience in the morning and a good dry blast in the afternoon. Despite the forecast, not a drop of rain fell on the airfield during the day, but on the journey home the heavens opened. I had removed the seat cushions and put them in the van, but the harnesses and pads got soaked, so I took them off and bought them into the house to dry off. There are some photos from the day on the Gallery page. I'm hoping to do one more airfield day at Colerne on December 4th.  10/12/06 Unfortunately, I couldn't get the day off work to go to Colerne. However, the weather was pretty miserable, so I'm not too disappointed. That's the the end of this years outings, but over the Winter, I have a few upgrades and improvements planned: Fit a newer engine - probably a 1.6 litre. Or a 1.8. Or another 1.4. Or a 1.8VVC. I really can't decide which at the moment. Obtain a spare set of wheels and slick tyres. These will be used for dry track days and the Yokohamas for wet tracks and road use. Make or buy a new driver's seat with more side support. Reposition the front headlight and indicators. I may even buy a pair of smaller headlights. Make some new brackets for the front wheel arches. Fit the passenger foot rest I bought at Brands Hatch. Relocate the air filter inside the scuttle panel, so it can draw in cooler air from the passenger compartment. Investigate the cost and availability of a LSD. I was going to dismantle the trailer this weekend, to give me more working space. Thankfully, I don't need to do that now as an old friend has kindly offered free indoor storage for it until late March. Thanks Ed! I'll be taking the trailer there next Sunday. Instead, I spent a couple of hours cleaning the car, as it was still filthy from the Keevil outing.

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